KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 — The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has expressed concern over the ongoing delay in the building of the littoral combat ship (LCS) project belonging to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).
Its chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said that during the presentation of the follow-up action report on the progress of the LCS project, the committee was informed that as of December 2023, it has delayed 86 days as it reached 67.28 per cent completion, compared to the new timeline set by the Defence Ministry (Mindef), which was 68.77 per cent.
“PAC’s main concern is that the LCS ships’ construction continues to be late. Besides, the issue of detailed design for the ships has also failed to be finalised by Mindef with the French company that designed the LCS, which is Naval Group,” she said at a press conference in Parliament today.
Ermieyati was commenting on the follow-up action report taken by Mindef on the 11 PAC recommendations over the LCS project’s progress from October 2022 to September 2023, which was presented today.
She added that the contractor for the project, Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS), was renamed Lumut Naval Shipyard (Lunas) after it was taken over by Ocean Sunshine Bhd, owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated on August 18, last year.
“The public can read every PAC follow-up and comment by visiting the PAC website,” Ermieyati said.
In the meantime, PAC has started proceedings on the implementation of the Multi-Lane Fast Flow System Project (MLFF) under the Public Works Ministry (KKR) and the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) on February 26.
Three witnesses were called at the proceedings, namely KKR deputy secretary-general (Policy and Development) Datuk Zahrul Hakim Abdullah, LLM director-general Datuk Sazali Harun, and MLLF Special Task Force Leader Khairulanuar Muhari.
PAC will continue the MLFF project implementation proceedings by holding three separate proceedings on March 25.
The witnesses to be called include the Association of Malaysian Highway Concession Companies’ president Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi, Selangor Network Consortium Sdn Bhd director Datuk Seri Azmi Abdul Aziz, SEP Synergy Sdn Bhd Group chief executive officer Zaharin Hamzah, and Public Private Partnership Unit (UKAS) director-general Datuk Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar.
MLFF is a non-stop toll collection system that uses the Automatic Registration Number Recognition (ANPR) system, in addition to the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system, designed to reduce traffic congestion on toll highways.
In principle, its implementation was approved in 2021 by the previous government with an initial RM3.46 billion allocation, but 32 highway toll concession companies reportedly objected to the project as they claimed the government had awarded it directly to a private company, YTL Corporation Bhd, without consulting the concession companies which will finance its implementation.
— Bernama
